Watching birds has, for a long time, been a popular activity. In an effort to attract birds to watch, many people place birdfeeders, birdbaths, and birdhouses in their yards. Attracting birds in this manner serves many purposes, including entertaining and educating people viewing the birds attracted by the peoples' activities. Providing food, water, and shelter also helps to preserve and protect the birds that frequent the birdhouses, birdbaths, and birdfeeders. People are also employed manufacturing and marketing birdfeeders, birdhouses, and birdbaths. Additionally, many people also derive pleasure from designing and building their own birdfeeders, birdhouses, and birdbaths.
As our population expands and more natural habitat is destroyed to make room for more houses, roads, shopping malls and other aspects of human life, habitat for birds and other animals is destroyed. Therefore, it becomes more important that sources of food, water and shelter for birds are provided by people living in houses built where habitat has been destroyed. It is particularly important that we provide sources of shelter for birds to build nests in which they may lay their eggs and raise their young when trees and shrubs are cut down and cultivated and uncultivated fields are destroyed to build homes. Even if some sources of food are destroyed in the process of clearing trees to build houses, food may be available in the form of insects, seeds, berries, and other parts of flowers, bushes and trees still present. However, with large mature trees cut down, open fields filled with houses, and unique habitats destroyed, birds will lack a source of shelter.
For some time, stores have catered to birdlovers, making available a wide variety of houses, feeders, baths, and seed to attract birds. Preassembled birdhouses have been available in a variety of outlets including hardware stores, specialty stores such as The Nature Company, craft stores, and garden stores, among others. Furthermore, some stores have opened that deal only with bird-related merchandise.
Typically, birdhouses are sold preassembled. A person, after purchasing such a birdhouse, will hang the house from a tree limb, or attach it to a post, fence or other suitable site. In addition to preassembled birdhouses, plans are available for constructing birdhouses. Often, children design and construct birdhouses in shop class or girl or boy scouts, for example. Building a birdhouse appeals to peoples' sense of making things, to the do-it-yourself spirit, and provides people with satisfaction in creating something.
Building a birdhouse is an attractive option for people who wish to build things on their own to their own specification and design. For example, people may alter the design of the birdhouse plan to suit their needs and desires. However, some people lack the skill, tools, and/or space to allow them to construct such a birdhouse.